Apparatus and method for enhancing transactions using rule information to communicate with multiple applications

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus provides information to enhance at least one of: a sales, a service and an administrative transaction by communicating with a plurality of applications from a group of applications in accordance with rule information and based on at least two of the received: end user identification information, client identification information and transaction type information. In one example, the apparatus includes a rules engine, an application integrator, an integration and presentation module, and an integrated user interface. The rules engine causes the application integrator to communicate with a plurality of applications in accordance with the rule information, and at least two of: the end user identification information, the client identification information, and the transaction type information. The application integrator then generates integrated output information received from the plurality of applications to produce the integrated user interface that includes output from the plurality of applications. Based on end user input, the integrated user interface then provides interactive user response information to the application integrator which passes the interactive user response information to the rules engine. The rules engine then determines which of at least one additional supporting application of available applications to use in a next stage of the transaction, which may be the same as or different applications from the plurality of applications. The application integrator then communicates with the additional supporting applications and accordingly updates the integrated output information on the integrated user interface to include output from the at least one additional supporting application.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under 35 C.F.R. § 1.53(c) to U.S.Serial No. 60/573,210 entitled “Apparatus And Method For EnhancingTransactions Using Rule Information To Communicate With MultipleApplications” having inventor John F. Durocher et al., filed on May 21,2004.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This application claim priority to U.S. Serial No. 60/573,210 entitled“Apparatus And Method For Enhancing Transactions Using Rule InformationTo Communicate With Multiple Applications” having inventor John F.Durocher et al., filed on May 21, 2004.

The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and a method forenhancing transactions and, in particular, an apparatus to enhancetransactions by facilitating communication with multiple applications.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There is growing demand by service based industries, such as thefinancial and sales industries, to continually improve both theeffectiveness and speed of business transactions. In developing servicesand/or products to improve the effectiveness and speed of these businesstransactions, various entities will typically develop specificapplications. A user, such as a customer service representativeservicing customer transactions, often will have access to a desktopcomputer or terminal coupled to a network having access to a largenumber of applications that may support a variety of transactions.Unfortunately, the user is required to navigate a complicatedorganizational structure of multiple applications to find the desiredapplication. Additionally, since each specific application may bedeveloped by different entities, these applications are oftenincompatible. As a result, the complexity of the desktop computer mayconfuse the user, thus degrading the efficiency of the businesstransaction, resulting in customer dissatisfaction.

In the financial services industry, efforts are now focused on improvingbank branch services as a result of customer sentiment, continuousadvantages in branch concepts/technology and economics. Many banks seeksolutions to provide themselves with a competitive advantage.Accordingly, banks seek to improve their competitive advantage throughincreased sales by providing consistent, real-time information on anintegrated branch user desktop. As a result, the banking industry isexperiencing a need to integrate, many off-the-shelf applications whichfacilitate various aspects of a banking transaction. For example,software applications that are currently available include fraudprevention applications. These fraud prevention applications typicallyperform customer authentication and fraud detection.

Other examples of off-the-shelf applications include customerrelationship management applications, platform and teller, fraud, branchadministration, workflow, knowledge management and trainingapplications. The customer relationship management application mayinclude a financial risk profile, a contact history, a customerpreference profile, a customer value profitability indicator, a customerlife cycle profile forecasting, a segmenting and product mixsub-application. The sales and maintenance application provides realtime alerts and offers needs assessments/advice, management of leads andreferrals, dispute resolution, and other functions. Thefinancial/internal branch transactions include service requestfunctions, such as check orders and bond redemption, account maintenanceand inquiry, payments and transfers and other sub-applications. Thebranch administration application may include branch/employeeperformance metrics, sales incentive tracking, scheduling and staffingmodels and goals/objectives aligned with incentives. The workflowapplication may include activity management and workflow, check imagingand document imaging as is known in the art. The term workflow is usedto describe applications that are developed as business processes.Workflow applications include forms routing and approval, documentreview and publishing, and issue tracking. Check imaging refers toapplications that scan paper checks into electronic images to improve aBanks check items processing by reducing cost and increasing quality andspeed of processing.

The knowledge management application includes integrated policy andprocedures, product and pricing information, integrated information andalerts, integrated FAQ's, integrated systems help, and universalknowledge base sub-applications. The training application includes acurriculum guide, a scheduling tool, simulation-based content, new hiretraining, just-in-time training, and process coaching sub-applications.It is known to provide a single log-in to multiple applications that areaccessible through a desktop interface. However, this method does notautomatically initiate communicate with another group of applications insubsequent stages of a transaction based on a type transaction. As aresult, if one application requires information from anotherapplication, then the user typically must manually retrieve theinformation from one application and input it into the otherapplication. Consequently, such methods do not automatically anddynamically obtain information from one application in order tofacilitate a transaction on another application even if the informationis available in different applications.

It is also known to provide information from different applications on asingle user interface screen. However, upon communication with a groupof applications, this method does not automatically communicate withanother group of applications in subsequent stages of a transactionbased on a type transaction. As a result, a user who needs to accessdata on an application in response to entering data related to atransaction must typically manually interact with the desiredapplication.

According to yet another method, it is known to provide access formultiple financial applications on a desktop computer or terminal.However, such methods do not typically provide a single sign-on for allrelevant applications available by the computer or terminal. Further,such methods do not typically automatically execute an application basedon a particular type of transaction. For example, if a customer servicerepresentative wanted to know if a product or services offering isavailable for a particular customer based on a particular type oftransaction type, the customer service representative would have tomanually sign onto a marketing database and manually enter the marketingdatabase to determine if such an offer is actually available based onthe type of transaction being executed.

According to yet another known method, it is known to provide amarketing offer based on a specific transaction type. However, suchmethods do not typically limit access to applications nor execute anapplication with respect to the role of the user. As a result, such asystem may display access to all applications regardless whether theuser has access to the applications or not. For example, such a systemwould allow a bank teller to view administrative and/or management typeapplications where the bank teller would not have the need orauthorization to access such applications.

These problems and other associated problems can impact the performanceof a user, such as a bank teller and the customer experience in aparticular type of transaction. These problems, for example, may resultin long queues and contradictory advice for the customer. One or more ofthe above-described problems may also result in the branch user and/orcustomer being forced to fill out multiple forms with the sameinformation. As a result, a customer typically must endure waiting onthe phone or long queues while the bank branch user tries to resolvethese problems encountered while servicing a customer request.

Accordingly, a need exists for a method and apparatus that addresses oneor more of the above issues.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus for enhancing transactions inaccordance with the present invention;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are functional block diagrams illustrating thecapabilities of multiple applications and sub-applications in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method for providing informationto enhance a transaction in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of an integrated user interface inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates one example of an integrated user interface fordisplay in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention;and

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for enhancing a transactionaccording to another embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A method and apparatus provides information to enhance at least one of:a sales, a service and an administrative transaction by communicatingwith a plurality of applications from a group of applications inaccordance with rule information and based on at least two of thereceived: end user identification information, client identificationinformation and transaction type information. In one example, theapparatus includes a rules engine, an application integrator, anintegration and presentation module, and an integrated user interface.The rules engine causes the application integrator to communicate with aplurality of applications in accordance with the rule information, andat least two of: the end user identification information, the clientidentification information, and the transaction type information. Theapplication integrator then generates integrated output informationreceived from the plurality of applications to produce the integrateduser interface that includes output from the plurality of applications.Based on end user input, the integrated user interface then providesinteractive user response information to the application integratorwhich passes the interactive user response information to the rulesengine. The rules engine then determines which of at least oneadditional supporting application of available applications to use in anext stage of the transaction, which may be the same as or differentapplications from the plurality of applications. The applicationintegrator then communicates with the additional supporting applicationsand accordingly updates the integrated output information on theintegrated user interface to include output from the at least oneadditional supporting application.

According to one specific embodiment, a bank branch user desktopinterface provides access to nine-key bank branch applications withcapabilities and associated subcapabilities, through aninteraction-driven integrated user interface. The apparatus and methodmay support numerous operations, for example, training, teller andplatform capabilities combined with insight-driven marketing (“IDM”).For example, insight-driven marketing based applications may useinformation, such as a customer profile or a business transaction, toprovide transaction specific and customer specific marketing offers tothe customer in order to stimulate the sale of other banking productsand services. According to yet another advantage, all relevantinformation provided by the various applications is provided in a singlelevel interface to the user. Accordingly, the apparatus and methodintegrates output from multiple applications to provide the user with asingle level portal front end. According to one embodiment, theapparatus may integrate both off-the-shelf applications and customapplications in order to fill an end user's need for access to variouscapabilities such as training, marketing and sales, administration andtransaction capabilities.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus 10 for providinginformation to enhance at least one of: a sales, a service and anadministrative transaction. The apparatus 10 includes one or moreprocessors 90 that functionally include a rules engine 20 and anapplication integrator 30 and may be a suitable computer or otherdevice. The apparatus 10 also includes memory 40, an integration andpresentation module 50, and an integrated user interface 60. The rulesengine 20 uses rule information 70 to, for example, determine whichapplications communication with the application integrator 30. Accordingto one embodiment, the rule information 70, for example, may represent adata structure such as a look up table, instructions and associateddatabase operations or any suitable software programs operating as therules engine 20. The rules engine 20 may therefore represent one or moresuitable software applications capable of carrying out operations basedon the rule information 70.

The memory 40 includes multiple applications, for example, a bank branchapplication 72, a customer relationship management application 74, aworkflow application 76, a training application 78, a branchadministration application 80, a fraud prevention application 82, asales and maintenance application 84, a knowledge management application86 and a financial/internal branch transaction application 88. Thememory 40 may include fewer or more applications and sub-applications.For example, the memory 40 may be, a hard disk drive, a distributed diskdrive system, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM),optical memory or any suitable storage-medium located locally orremotely, such as via a server or distributed memory, and may beaccessible by a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), aswitching system or any suitable network element via the Internet, awireless wide access network (WWAN), a wireless local area network(WLAN), such as but not limited to a wireless communication network, aninfrared communication network, a satellite communication network or anysuitable communication interface or network.

Processor 90 may be one or more suitably programmed processors, such asa microprocessor, a microcontroller or a digital signal processor (DSP),and, therefore, includes associated memory, such as memory 40, whichcontains instructions that, when executed, causes the processor 90 tocarry out the operations described herein. In addition, the processor90, as used herein, may include discrete logic, state machines or anyother suitable combination of hardware, software, middleware and/orfirmware. According to one embodiment, the rules engine 20 may be asoftware program operating on the processor 90 in a computer that ispart of a network of computers to perform a variety of functions, amongother things, to determine which of the available applications toestablish communication with. Similarly, the application integrator 30may represent a software program or any other suitable software programoperating on processor 90 to facilitate communication between theintegration and presentation module 50, the integrated user interface60, the rules engine 20 and the various applications in memory 40.Additionally, the integration and presentation module 50 may represent asoftware program operating on processor 90. In addition, the rulesengine 20, the application integrator 30, the integration andpresentation module 50 and the integrated user interface 60 as usedherein, can also include discrete logic, state machines or any othersuitable combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware.

The integrated user interface 60 may be presented on a display forreceiving and displaying integrated output information 92. Further, auser may provide interactive user response information 94 to apparatus10 via the integrated user interface 60. The integrated user interface60 may be a graphical user interface (GUI), a multifunctional GUI or anysuitable user interface. The integrated user interface 60 is integratedin that it is a single level user interface that displays output from aplurality of applications that have been selected for use at aparticular stage in the transaction. Therefore, there is no need totoggle between applications because all the information is shown in asingle level. FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate, according to one embodiment, afunctional block diagram of a collection of applications andsub-applications 200, organized by main applications, according to oneembodiment of the invention. In this example, a bank branch integrateddesktop application 202 includes a customer experience/segmentationsub-application 204, a complete customer view sub-application 206 and asingle log-on sub-application 208. A fraud prevention application 210includes a customer authentication sub-application 212 and a frauddetection capability/alert sub-application 214.

A customer relationship management application 216 includes a completecustomer relationship view sub-application 218, a customer life cyclesub-application 220, a financial risk profile sub-application 222, aforecasting sub-application 224, a contact history sub-application 226,a segmenting and product mix sub-application 228, a customer preferencesub-application 230 and a customer value profitability indicatorsub-application 232.

A sales and maintenance application 234 includes a disputecomplaint/issue resolution sub-application 236, a lead/prospectmanagement and referrals sub-application 238, a personalizationsub-application 240, an opportunity generation sub-application 242, anaccount maintenance and inquiry sub-application 244, a combined productorigination sub-application 246, an investment product organizationsub-application 248, a needs assessment/advice sub-application 250, areal time alerts and offers sub-application 252, a deposit productorigination sub-application 254, a mortgage origination sub-application256, a campaign management sub-application 258, a loan productorigination sub-application 260, a card origination sub-application 262,and a fulfillment sub-application 264.

A financial/internal branch transaction application 268 includes a wireorigination and receipt confirmation sub-application 270, a payment andtransfers sub-application 272, a cash transaction sub-application 274, astops and holds sub-application 276, a supervisor overridessub-application 278, a cash vault sub-application 280, an ATM settlementreplenishment sub-application 282, a safe box management sub-application284, a consignment/official items sub-application 286, a cash buys andsells sub-application 288, a store and forward sub-application 290, anOD decision sub-application 292, a service request sub-application 294,an account maintenance and inquiry sub-application 296 and an end of daysettlement sub-application 298.

A branch administration application 300 includes a branch securitysub-application 302, a sales incentive tracking sub-application 304, abranch/employee performance matrix sub-application 306, a physicalbranch layout ergonomics sub-application 308, a forms/supply managementsub-application 310, a performance management sub-application 312, ascheduling and staffing model sub-application 314 and a goals/objectivesaligned with incentives sub-application 316. A workflow application 318includes an activity management and workflow sub-application 320, acheque imaging sub-application 322 and a document imagingsub-application 324.

A knowledge management application 326 includes an integrated policy andprocedures sub-application 328, a product and pricing informationsub-application 330, an integration information alerts sub-application332, an integrated FAQs sub-application 334, an integrated systems helpsub-application 336 and a universal knowledge base sub-application 338.

A training application 340 includes a curriculum guide 342, a schedulingtool sub-application 344, a simulation-based content sub-application346, a new hire training sub-application 348, a just-in-time trainingsub-application 350 and a process coaching sub-application 352. However,it will be recognized that any suitable application may be used. FIG. 3illustrates a method for providing information to enhance at least oneof: a sales, a service and an administrative transaction. Thetransaction may be a sales transaction, a service transaction or anadministrative transaction. The service transaction may include, forexample, a check order, a bond redemption, a wire origination, a cashtransaction, a payment, a transfer, a stop and a hold, a withdrawal, adeposit or any other suitable service transaction. The transactionslisted would be considered “service” transactions. Examples of salestransactions may include the sale of a new deposit, savings, loan,credit card, investment product or sale of a service related add-on to anew or existing product, such as such as online banking. Anadministrative transaction may include, for example, monitoringindividual employee performance. Other examples of administrativetransactions include, monitoring overall branch performance, monitoringbranch activity including security, monitoring traffic flow, monitoringteller lines, managing stock of forms, revising marketing materials, andother supplies, or any other suitable administrative transaction.

The method of FIG. 3 may be carried out by the rules engine 20 and theapplication integrator 30 described with respect to FIG. 1. However, anyother suitable structure may also be used. It will be recognized thatthe method of FIG. 3, beginning with step 360, will be described as aseries of operations, but the operations may be performed in anysuitable order and may be repeated in any suitable combination.

As shown in step 362, the rules engine 20 receives end useridentification information 96 via the integration and presentationmodule 50 and the application integrator 30. For example, a useroperating the integrated user interface 60 such as a bank branch userinterface, may log onto the apparatus 10 by providing the user's enduser identification information 96 (e.g. login and password) to therules engine 10 via the application integrator 30. In response, theapplication integrator 30 in conjunction with the rules engine 20provides the login information to a single sign-on sub-application 208.Additionally, the application integrator 30 in conjunction with therules engine 20 provides the end user identification information 96 tothe branch/employee information and performance metrics application 306.In response, the branch/employee information and performance metricsapplication 306 provides user profile information associated with theprovided end user identification information 96 to the rules engine 20via the application integrator 30. For example, the user profileinformation includes role information associated with the end useridentification information 96. The role information indicates theapplications available for access by the user. Accordingly, in responseto receiving the role information, the rules engine 20 determines whichapplications and sub-applications the user has access to and causes theapplication integrator 30 to communication with those identifiedapplications and sub-applications.

For example, if a bank teller logs into the bank branch user interfacethen, in response to receiving the role information, the rules engine 20may cause the application integrator 30 to automatically log into theintegrated FAQs application 334 to retrieve FAQs information generallyrelated to the user's role as a bank teller. In response, the rulesengine 20 may provide the FAQs information to the integrated userinterface 60 via the application integrator 30 and the integration andpresentation module 50 for display to the user. Additionally, inresponse to receiving the role information, the rules engine 20 maycause the application integrator 30 to automatically log into thetraining application 340 to retrieve a status of the user's training andthe curriculum guide 342 to retrieve curriculum training informationassociated with a bank teller's role. Further, the rules engine 20, viathe application integrator 30, may transmit the user information 96 tothe branch administration application 300 and to, for example, thebranch/employee performance metrics sub-application 306. In response,the branch/employee performance metrics application 306 may provide tothe rules engine 20, via the application integrator 30, a list ofcourses that the user has taken. In response, the rules engine 20 maycompare the status of the user's training with the curriculum traininginformation to determine if the user has not taken a course in thecurriculum. If the user has not taken a course in the curriculum, therules engine 20 sends suggested training information to the integrateduser interface 60 via the application integrator 30 and the integrationand presentation module 50 for display to the user.

Since the rules engine 20 determines which group of applications it willcommunicate with from the group of available applications, the rulesengine 20 only logs onto those applications for which the rules engine20 will be accessing. For example, if a manger logs in, then the managerwill be allowed access to specific applications, such as thebranch/employee performance metrics sub-application 306 to conduct anemployee performance review. However, if a teller logs in, then theteller will only be allowed access to applications suitable for theteller's needs. According to one alternative embodiment, the rulesengine 20 logs into all available applications in response to the userproviding the end user identification information and also in responseto communicating with the plurality of applications from the group ofapplications. As a result, the user automatically logs into allavailable applications within the group in response to providing a loginand password. As shown in step 363, the user, such as a bank teller, mayprovide client identification information 98 in response to a customerrequesting service from the bank teller. For example, a client, such asa bank customer, may produce an identification or bank transaction card,such as an ATM (Automated Teller Machine) card, for customer identityauthorization. The rules engine 20 receives and recognizes theinteractive user response information 94 as, for example, the clientidentification information 98, and via the application integrator 30,provides the client identification information 98 to the completecustomer view sub-application 206 and the account maintenance andinquiry sub-application 296. For example, the rule information mayrepresent a database including a list of transaction type information,such as an authorization of client information 98, and correspondingapplication identification associated with each transaction typeinformation 100 (i.e. request for client information authorization). Inresponse to the request for authorization of the client information 98,the rules engine 20 sends the request for client informationauthorization to the complete customer/relationship view sub-application218 and the account maintenance and inquiry sub-application 296 toobtain the customer profile and account information according to theapplication identification identified in the database. In response, therules engine 20 may then provide the customer profile and accountinformation to the integrated user interface 60 in order to allow theuser to review the customer profile and account information.

According to an alternative embodiment, the rules engine 20 may maintainand store the customer profile and account information during thetransaction in the event any other application requires and requests thecustomer profile and account information. For example, the rules engine20, based on the rules information 70, may automatically forward to, forexample, the sales and maintenance application 234, the customer profileand account information relevant to the transaction. In response, thesales and maintenance application 234 provides the customer profile andaccount information to the account maintenance and inquirysub-application 244, real time alerts and offers sub-application 252 andthe opportunity generation sub-application 242. According to oneembodiment, the sales and maintenance sub-application 234 receivesinformation, such as the customer profile and account information, andautomatically stores the information in the account maintenance andinquiry sub-application 244 and also automatically forwards theinformation to the opportunity generation sub-application 242 and thereal time alerts and offers sub-application 252. As such, the rulesengine 20 may be programmed via the rules information 70 to send thetransaction-based multi-application request information 102 to the salesand maintenance sub-application 234 for distribution to othersub-applications, such as the account maintenance and inquirysub-application 244, the opportunity generation sub-application 242, thelead/prospect management and referrals sub-application 238 and the realtime alerts and offers sub-application 252. Alternatively, the rulesengine 20 may transmit the customer profile and account informationdirectly to the account maintenance and inquiry sub-application 244, theopportunity generation sub-application 242, the real time alerts andoffers sub-application 252 and the lead prospect management andreferrals sub-application 238.

According to an alternative embodiment, applications written by the samevendor and already integrated within another application may actuallytransmit information directly between the sub-applications. Otherwise,the rules engine 20 and the application integrator 30 may route ordirect information from one sub-application to another sub-application,such as where the different sub-applications were not developed by thesame vendor or are otherwise not integrated to support the exchange ofinformation. As a result, the rules engine 20 and the correspondingrules information 70 may be programmed with knowledge of whichapplications and which sub-applications are fully integrated, whichapplications are integrated to permit the exchange of information, suchas customer profile and account information, and which applications arenot integrated and require the exchange of information via theapplication integrator 30 and the rules engine 20.

According to one embodiment, the rules engine 20 receives acustomer-based marketing offer via the application integrator 30 fromthe sales and maintenance application as a result of the analysisperformed by the real time alerts and offers sub-application 252, theopportunity generation sub-application 242 and the account maintenanceand inquiry sub-application 244. Such a marketing offer is describedherein as customer-based marketing offer because the offer was based onan analysis of the customer profile and account information as opposedto being based on a particular transaction.

As shown in step 364, the user provides to the rules engine 20transaction type information 100. For example, the transaction may be aservice request, such as a check order, bond redemption, a wireorigination and receipt confirmation, a cash transaction, an accountmaintenance and inquiry or any other suitable transaction. For example,the rules engine 20 may provide the transaction type information 100 astransaction-based multi-application request information 102 to thefinancial/internal branch transaction application 268 via theapplication integrator 30. In turn, the financial/internal branchtransaction application 268 may provide the transaction type informationto the service request application 294 for processing and furtherexecution.

As shown in step 366, the rules engine 20, based on the rule information70, communicates with a first group of applications, such as a pluralityof applications wherein the plurality of applications includes at leastone main application and at least one supporting application, from agroup of available applications in accordance with rule information 70and also based on at least two of the received: the end useridentification information 96, the customer identification 98 and thetransaction type information 100. The group of applications may be thoseas previously described with respect to FIG. 2.

According to one embodiment, the rules engine 20 may provide, via theapplication integrator 30, the transaction type information 100 astransaction-based multi-application request information 102 to the(main) service request application (294) and the (supporting) sales andmaintenance application 234 to perform an analysis by the real timealerts and offers sub-application 252, the opportunity generationsub-application 242 and the account maintenance and inquirysub-application 244. In response, the rules engine 20, via theapplication integrator 30, receives a transaction-based marketing offerfrom the sales and maintenance application 234 as a result of theanalysis performed by the real time alerts and offers sub-application252, the opportunity generation sub-application 242 and the accountmaintenance and inquiry sub-application 244. Such a marketing offer isdescribed herein as a transaction-based marketing offer because theoffer was based on an analysis of a particular transaction.

As shown in step 368, the rules engine 20 causes the integration andpresentation module 50 to generate integrated output information 92 fromthe first group of applications to produce the integrated user interface60 that includes output from the plurality of applications. For example,an application may provide a marketing offer or general FAQs dependingon the type of transaction, the user information or customerinformation.

According to one embodiment the rules engine 20 forwards the transactiontype information 100 to the (supporting) customer relationshipmanagement application 216, the financial/internal branch transactionsub-application 268 and the sales and maintenance sub-application 234.For example, the opportunity generation sub-application 242 and the realtime alerts and offers sub-application 252 may recognize a marketingopportunity based on insight-driven marketing and produce a marketingoffer related to the transaction type information 100.

According to another embodiment, in response to receiving thetransaction type, the rules engine 20 may cause the applicationintegrator 30 to automatically log into the (supporting) integrated FAQsapplication 334 to retrieve FAQs information generally related to thetransaction type information 100. In response, the rules engine 20 mayprovide the FAQs information to the integrated user interface 60 via theapplication integrator 30 and the integration and presentation module 50for display to the user. Additionally, in response to receiving the roleinformation, the rules engine 20 may cause the application integrator 30to automatically log into the training application 340 to retrieve astatus of the curriculum guide 342 to retrieve curriculum traininginformation associated with a list of courses with regard to thetransaction type information 100. Further, the rules engine 20, via theapplication integrator 30, may transmit the transaction type information100 to the branch administration application 300 and to, for example,the branch/employee performance metrics sub-application 306. Inresponse, the branch/employee performance metrics application 306 mayprovide to the rules engine 20, via the application integrator 30, alist of courses that the user has taken. In response, the rules engine20 may compare the status of the user's training with the curriculumtraining information to determine if the user has not taken a course inthe curriculum. If the user has not taken a course in the curriculum,the rules engine 20 sends suggested training information to theintegrated user interface 60 via the application integrator 30 and theintegration and presentation module 50 for display to the user.

According to one embodiment, the integration and presentation module 50integrates the marketing offer information, the general FAQ information,the client information and the transaction information on a singlescreen for display on the integrated user interface 60. As a result, theuser may be able to quickly locate desired information because theinformation is associated with a particular location on the screen and,therefore, may be easily and quickly found.

As shown in step 370, the rules engine 20 receives via the integrationand presentation module 50 and the application integrator 30,interactive user response information 94 from the integrated userinterface 60 in response to displaying the integrated output information92. According to one embodiment, the interactive user responseinformation 94 may be, for example, a marketing referral or request fora specific FAQ topic. Returning to the marketing offer example, therules engine 20 directs the application integrator 30 to forward themarketing offer received from the real time alerts and offerssub-application 252 and provide the integrated output information 92 tothe integration and presentation module 50. In response, the integrationand presentation module 50 provides the integrated output information 92to the integrated user interface 60 to display the marketing offer tothe user.

Returning to the training example, the rules engine 20 receives arequest for a specific FAQ topic or training course, as appropriate,from the integrated user interface 60 via the integration andpresentation module 50. In response, the rules engine 20 provides therequest for a specific FAQ topic to the integrated FAQs sub-application334 or provides the course training information to the curriculum guide342 or the scheduling tool application 344.

Returning to the marketing example, the integrated user interface 60provides interactive user response information 94 regarding themarketing offer to the integration and presentation module 50. Inresponse, the integration and presentation module 50 provides theinteractive user response information 94 to the rules engine 20 via theapplication integrator 30. Accordingly, the rules engine 20 causes theapplication integrator 30 to forward the marketing request to theappropriate application, such as the lead/prospect management andreferrals application 238.

As shown in step 372, the rules engine 20 determines which of at leastone additional supporting application of the group of applications touse in a next stage of the transaction based on the interactive userresponse information 94 and the rule information 70. The at least oneadditional supporting application may be the same or differentapplications from the plurality of applications. For example, the rulesengine 20 may cause the application integrator 30 to direct a user'srequest for a marketing referral to the lead/prospect management andreferrals sub-application 238 and a request for a FAQ topic to theintegrated FAQs sub-application 334 as supporting applications.Accordingly, the at least one additional supporting application mayrefer to a supporting application that is the same as the plurality ofapplications but the at least one additional supporting application mayalso refer to the same or different sub-applications than those referredto with respect to the plurality of main and supporting applications.

Returning to the marketing offer example, the rules engine 20 determineswhich of the at least one supporting applications, such as the sales andmaintenance application 234, to use in the next stage of thetransaction. For example, the rules engine 20 may cause the applicationintegrator 30 to forward the request for the referral in step 370 to thelead/prospect management and referrals sub-application 238 for loggingof the referral. For example, a referral may note that a representativecontact the client at his home office in order to discuss the details ofthe marketing offer.

Returning to training example, the rules engine 20 may determine whichof the supporting application, such as the training application 340,knowledge management application 326 and branch administrationapplication 300 to use. For example, the rules engine 20 may cause theapplication integrator 30 to direct a request for a specific FAQ to thejust-in-time training sub-application 350 to recommend a particularcourse suitable for the user in response to the user's request forparticular information regarding the selected FAQ. According to oneembodiment, the rules engine 20 prompts the just-in-time trainingsub-application 350 and the branch employee performance metricssub-application, and compares the recommended list of courses with alist of courses already taken by the user. In addition, the rules engine20 sends a message via the application integrator to prompt the analysisof the user's performance via the branch employee performance metricssub-application 306 along with the requested information in order todetermine whether the employee is performing at an appropriate level.For example, if the employee is ranked at the top of the employee'sclass, then there is less of a need to provide basic training to theemployee; however, if the user is requesting basic information that theuser should either know or should have learned in a previous trainingcourse, then additional or supplemental training may be suggested.

According to yet another embodiment, the branch/employee performancemetrics application 306 may track the number of leads provided to thelead/prospect management and referrals application 238 and perform ananalysis to determine whether the user is particularly successful atproviding a business referral. In response, the rules engine 20 may senda message via the application integrator 30 to the user to provide tipsfor improving performance of other users with respect to increasingtheir levels of business referrals. In response, the rules engine 20through the application integrated 30 may forward the tips to theuniversal knowledge base sub-application 338.

As shown in step 374, the rules engine 20 communicates with theadditional supporting applications via the application integrator 30.The additional supporting applications were identified in step 372.Accordingly, the rules engine 20 provides transaction-basedmulti-application request information 102 to the application integrator30 in accordance with the request. The application integrator 30 directsthe request to the appropriate application.

Returning to the marketing offer example, the rules engine 20 maydetermine that the referral information should be routed to, forexample, the lead/prospect management and referrals sub-application 238and the opportunity generation application 242. As such, the rulesengine 20 cause the application integrator to communicate with eitherthe same applications previously communicated with or differentapplications, depending on the requested information from the user andthe information requested from the applications. The rules engine 20dynamically causes the application integrator 30 to communicate bothwith the applications and with the user as needed in order to facilitatethe processing of information to enhance the transaction.

Returning to the training example, the rules engine 20 may cause theapplication integrator 30 to communicate with any of the trainingapplications 340, the knowledge management application 326 and thebranch administration application 300. As previously discussed with theregard to step 372, the rules engine 20 may cause the applicationintegrator 30 to forward the request for training to the curriculumguide application 342 or the scheduling tool application 344, and mayadditionally provide the request for training to the branch/employeeperformance metrics sub-application 306 to keep track of the user'straining courses. Further, as previously discussed, the integrateduniversal knowledge base 338 may request that the user provide some toptips for inclusion into the integrated FAQs sub-application 334, so thatother users may benefit from the experience and success of the userproviding product and service referrals.

As shown in step 376, the rules engine 20 causes the applicationintegrator 30 to update the integrated output information 92 to includeoutput from the at least one additional supporting application fordisplay on the integrated user interface 60. For example, the additionalsupporting applications identified in step 372 may providetransaction-based multi-application response information 104 to therules engine 20 via the application integrator 30. Then the applicationintegrator 30 may then provide integrated output information 92 fordisplay on the integration and presentation module 50. As previouslystated, the integration and presentation module 50 combines theintegrated output information 92 to include output from the additionalsupporting applications for display at a single level. Furthermore,according to another embodiment, the integration and presentation module50 places specific information, such as FAQs information, traininginformation or any other suitable information, at a particular portionof the display. As such, the user may quickly identify frequentlyaccessed types of information since the information is consistentlylocated on a particular portion of the screen.

FIG. 4 illustrates a user interface screen 400 for the integrated userinterface 60 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.The user interface 400 includes a customer profile portion 402, atransaction portion 404, a log-in ID portion 406, a FAQ section 408 anda marketing offer portion 410. The customer profile section 402 includesa customer name 412, an account summary 414 and an account history 416.The transaction portion 404 includes a list of transaction options 418and a transaction status 420. According to one embodiment, the userinterface 400 is a single screen interface such that the customerprofile 402, the transaction portion 404, the log-in ID portion 406, theFAQs and the marketing offer portion 410 are all displayed on a singlescreen.

FIG. 5 illustrates a user interface screen 500 that is updated from theuser interface 400 described in FIG. 4. The updated user interface 500further includes a smart training portion 502, a quick tips portion 504and a transaction status portion 506.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating one example of a financialtransaction executed between a bank teller and a customer. The method ofFIG. 6 may be carried out by the rules engine 20 in conjunction with theapplication integrator 30 described with respect to FIG. 1. However, anyother suitable structure may also be used. It will be recognized thatthe method of FIG. 6, beginning with step 600, will be described as aseries of operations, but the operations may be performed in anysuitable order and may be repeated in any suitable combination.

Each step of the method example of FIG. 6 will be described in thecontext of a transaction between a customer, Mr. Jones, and a teller,Tom. Mr. Jones approaches the teller counter and requests to have hissavings bond cashed. He hands the bond over the counter to teller Tom.Teller Tom has just returned from lunch and is not yet logged onto hisdesktop. He greets Mr. Jones, carefully reviews the bond and asks Mr.Jones for his driver's license.

As shown in step 610, teller Tom enters his bank branch system with hisidentification and password in a single sign-on procedure. As wasdescribed before, the single sign-on procedure includes automaticallylogging onto all necessary applications as defined by the rule engine20.

As shown in step 612, the rules engine 20 causes the applicationintegrator 30 to automatically log onto all relevant bank branch desktopapplications as designated by Tom's role as a teller, using the singlesign-on procedure and in accordance with the user identificationinformation (indicates Tom's role) previously described with respect tostep 362.

As shown in step 614, the bank branch desktop application searches forMr. Jones in the customer database as previously discussed at step 363.For example, the rules information 70, programmed in the rules engine20, may direct the application integrator 30 to forward the customername and/or account information to the customer authenticationsub-application 212 in the fraud prevention application 210 and thecomplete customer relationship view sub-application 218 in the customerrelationship management application 216. As such, application integrator20 may automatically route customer name information entered in thecustomer name field 412 of the customer profile portion 402 ofintegrated user interface 400.

As shown in step 616 customer authentication application 212 validatesthe customer information entered with the customer profile informationreceived via the application integrator 30 and the complete customerrelationship view sub-application 218, as previously discussed also atstep 363. According to one embodiment, the customer authenticationsub-application 212 may receive the customer name information 412entered in the customer profile 402 of the integrated user interface 400and compare the customer name with the customer profile on file. As aresult of the comparison, the customer authentication application 212may then provide a response via the application integrator 30 tointegrated user interface 400 indicating that the customer name isvalidated and the customer is authorized to conduct a transaction.Teller Tom validates the name and address information received from thecustomer authentication application 212 and quickly reviews thecustomer's profile information that is presented in the integrated userinterface. Teller Tom sees that Mr. Jones has additional savings bondsas well as investment and deposit accounts totaling $150,000.

As shown in step 618, based on rule information linking the outputtingof customer profile information with a marketing offering, the rulesengine 20 causes the application integrator 30 to provide the customerprofile information to an opportunity generation sub-application 242 togenerate a marketing offer in cooperation with real time alerts andoffers sub-application 252 in response to receiving the customerprofile. According to this example, the marketing offer is an offer forfree online banking shown in the integrated user interface 60. Accordingto this example, the offer for free online banking is in response to areview of the customer profile and may therefore be referred to as acustomer-based marketing offer. This is also an example ofinsight-driven marketing.

As shown in step 620, teller Tom selects a particular transaction from alist of possible transactions that were presented in the integrated userinterface 60 based on a login rule as desired that caused the financialbranch transaction application 268, to execute and present a list of allrelevant transactions that may be carried out. Tom selects the desiredtransaction to conduct by selecting (e.g., activation a GUI button orother interface operation) transaction type information 100 to activate,in this example, the service request sub-application 294 for execution.According to this example, teller Tom selects bond redemption from thetransaction options 418 listed in the transactions portion 404 of theintegrated user interface 400 and enters the date of the bond (Jun. 6,1980) and the amount ($100), as shown in the transaction portion 404.The bond redemption transaction corresponds to the procedure withrespect to step 364. The service requesting sub-application 294 is themain application and generates the amount of interest owed to thecustomer of $20, as shown in the transaction portion 404.

As shown in step 622, based on a rule that takes into account thetransaction type, a supporting application is called. In this example,the application integrator 30 provides the transaction type information100 to the rules engine 20 and the rules engine 20 notifies theapplication integrator 30 to communicate with the real time alerts andoffers sub-application 252 as a supporting application to generate atransaction-based marketing offer as previously described with respectto step 366. The real time alerts and offers sub-application 252 outputsthe new marketing offer for a high-yield CD (Certificate of Deposit),based on the transaction Tom performs. For example, the applicationintegrator 30 forwards the transaction type information 100 directly tothe opportunity generation sub-application 242 or real time alerts andoffers sub-application 252 so that it can determine whether to generatea transaction-based marketing offer in cooperation with the real timealerts and offers sub-application 252 in response to receiving thetransaction information. The opportunity generation sub-application 242generates the transaction based marketing offer and in response, theapplication integrator 30 conveys the offer as integrated outputinformation 92 for display with the response from the service requestapplication 294 (upon processing the transaction request) via theintegration and presentation module 50 and in turn to the integrateduser interface 60 for display. Tom quickly reviews the offer details andthe bond transaction response from the service request application 294and decides that he will present it to Mr. Jones after he has completedthe transaction.

Tom knows that he needs to report interest over a certain amount, butcannot remember how much. He navigates to the side of his integrateduser interface screen 400 where the integrated FAQs application 334 hasprovided a list of frequently asked question topics based on transactiontype information 100. One of the frequently asked question topicsrelevant to the bond redemption transaction is “When do I reportinterest?” As shown in step 624 and also as previously discussed at step368, the rules engine 20 causes the application integrator 30 to providethe transaction type information 100 to the integrated FAQssub-application 334 and in response, the integrated FAQs sub-application334 provides a list of FAQ topics as integrated output information 92 tothe integrated user interface 60. At this point, the user interfacescreen 400 shown in FIG. 4 represents the state of the screen.Subsequent changes to the screen will be shown as indicated in FIG. 5.

Tom clicks on “When do I report interest?.” In response, the integrateduser interface 60 generates interactive user response information 94representing the FAQ request as previously described with respect tostep 370 and the rules engine 20 causes the application integrator 30 toselect (as previously described with respect to step 372) andcommunicates the FAQ request to the integrated FAQs application 334 aspreviously described with respect to step 374. The integrated FAQssub-application 334 responds with the requested FAQ information, and therules engine 20 directs the application integrator 30 to forward therequested FAQ information to the integrated user interface 60 via theintegration and presentation module 50 as previously discussed withrespect to step 376. The requested FAQ information is displayed in theFAQ portion 408 of the updated user interface screen 500 and istherefore integrated with the other data in the user interface screen500, such as the transaction options information 418. He quickly learnsthat interest over $10 must be reported. Since it has been a while sinceTom executed this process, he is happy to see a link to the 1099 form inthe FAQs section 408 and the process to complete it. Tom is relievedthat he does not have to call for help and keep Mr. Jones waiting. Tomcompletes the 1099 form.

As shown in step 626, the rules engine 20 causes the applicationintegrator 30 to communicate with at least one supporting application,such as the just-in-time training sub-application 350 or curriculumguide sub-application 342 to request and receive “smart training” topicsin response to the user selecting the FAQ topic and the rule information70. This process was also previously described with respect to thetraining example in step 376. The rule information 70 may indicate thatin response to receiving a selected FAQ topic, the rules engine 20requests training information related to the selected FAQ topic from thejust-in-time training sub-application 350 or curriculum guidesub-application 342. As shown in FIG. 5, the smart training portion 502of the user interface screen 500 illustrates the smart training topicsreceived by the rules engine 20. Since the smart training was producedin response to Tom selecting a particular FAQ, namely “When do I reportinterest?”, the FAQs section 408 is maintained on the screen in order tofacilitate future reference to other frequently asked questions for theconvenience of the user. As a result, the user interface screen 500provides all information to the user in at a single level of theintegrated user interface. This is also an example of the rules engine20 causing the application integrator 30 to communicate with at leastone other supporting application, the just in time trainingsub-application 350 in response to the interactive user responseinformation 94 and the rule information 70.

Mr. Jones completes the form and returns it to Tom. The accountmaintenance and inquiry sub-application 296 determines that Tom pay thecustomer $120. He pays Mr. Jones $120 in cash and extends the marketingoffer for a high-yield CD. Mr. Jones is interested in hearing more aboutthe high-yield CD, but informs Tom that he needs to run to anotherappointment. Tom then asks Mr. Jones if he would like someone to phonehim later that day to provide further information. Mr. Jones agrees. Asshown in step 628, Tom enters a referral request to the integrated userinterface 60, and in response the integration and presentation module 50and the application integrator 30 provide the referral request to therules engine 20. In response, the rule information 70 instructs therules engine 20 to cause the application integrator 30 to forward thereferral request to the lead/prospect management and referralssub-application 238 (main application), so a contact center agent willcall the customer regarding the offer at his office this afternoon. Tomthanks Mr. Jones for his business.

As shown in step 630, the rule information 70 instructs the rules engine20 to cause the application integrator to also instructs the rulesengine 20 to provide the referral information to the branch employeeperformance metrics sub-application 306. Based on the referralinformation, the branch employee performance metrics application 306recognizes that Tom is the leading teller referral provider in theregion. The branch employee performance metrics sub-application 306(supporting application) provides a message indicating that Tom has justbecome the leading teller referral provider in the region to the rulesengine 20. In response, the rules engine 20 causes the applicationintegrator 30 to send a message to the universal knowledge basesub-application 338 (supporting application) indicating that teller Tomis the leading teller referral provider in the region.

In response to receiving a message that Tom is the leading tellerreferral provider in the region, the rules information 70 instructs therules engine 20, through the application integrator 30 to request fromTom his “quick tips” for his techniques and ideas to enable othertellers to learn from his experiences. In response to receiving Tom'squick tips, the rules engine 20 causes the application integrator 30 toprovide Tom's quick tips to the universal knowledge base 338 (supportingapplication). Tom's quick tips may then be provided in the quick tipsportion 504 of the updated user interface screen 500. Since there are noother customers waiting, he reviews the smart training portion 502 ofthe updated user interface screen 500, which includes 30-minute onlinecourses for compliance reporting, the Bank Secrecy Act and largecurrency reporting. As shown in step 632, Tom agrees that he needs tofurther his compliance reporting knowledge and requests a particularcourse topic by sending a request to the just in time trainingsub-application 350 and curriculum guide sub-application 342.

As shown in step 634, in response to Tom's request for compliancereporting training, the just in time training sub-application 350(supporting application) sends a confirmation message to the applicationintegrator 30 and in turn, the rules engine 20 provides the confirmationmessage to the integrated user interface 60 confirming Tom's courseregistration. Accordingly, the smart training portion 502 of the updateduser interface screen 500 is further updated to indicate the courseregistration confirmation information.

Although the transaction-based marketing offer is described above asintegrated in an example with other activities occurring, such astraining, a method and system will be described for providing thetransaction-based marketing offer according to one embodiment. Aspreviously described with respect to FIG. 3, the rules engine 20receives the end user identification information 96, the clientidentification information 98 and the transaction type information 100.In response to receiving the transaction type information 100, the rulesengine 20 causes the application integrator 30 to communicate with thereal time alert and offers sub-application 252 (main application) andthe opportunity generation sub-application 242 (supporting application)to determine whether the transaction type information 100 warrants amarketing offer. For example, in response to receiving any transactiontype information 100, the rules engine 20 causes the applicationintegrator 30 to automatically forward the transaction type information100 to the real time alerts and offers sub-application 252. In response,the real time alerts and offers sub-application 252 determines whether,for example, the customer will receive, as a result of the transaction,a marketing offer.

Further, the real time alerts and offers sub-application 252 may receivecustomer profile and account information from the account maintenanceand inquiry sub-application 244, via the application integrator 50 andas directed by the rules engine 20, in order to determine whether thesufficient cash funds are available, and therefore, warrant investmentin a new investment vehicle, such as a high-yield certificate of depositaccount. According to one embodiment, the real time alerts and offerssub-application 252 may communicate through the application integrator30 with the account maintenance and inquiry sub-application 244, oralternatively, the real time alerts and offers sub-application 252 maycommunicate through the application integrator 30 to request accountbalance and customer profile information from other applications, suchas the account maintenance and inquiry sub-application 296 and thecomplete customer relationship view sub-application 218. For example,the rules engine 20 may provide the transaction type information 100 astransaction-based multi-application request information 102 to theapplication integrator 30 for routing and any suitable data formattranslation to the real time alerts and offers sub-application 252.

If the real time alerts and offers sub-application 252 determines that atransaction-based marketing offer is warranted, then the real timealerts and offers sub-application 252 sends a transaction-basedmarketing offer to the rules engine 20 via the application integrator30. In response, the rules engine 20 directs the application integrator30 to forward the transaction-based marketing offer to the integrationand presentation module 50 as integrated output information 92. Theintegration and presentation module 50 then integrates the receivedtransaction-based marketing offer with any other transaction informationor any other pending information currently being displayed on theintegrated user interface 60. As a result, the integration andpresentation module 50 may update the user interface screen 400 byincluding in the marketing offer portion 410 the high-yield CDtransaction-based marketing offer.

As previously described, by the user selecting the high-yield CD offerlink in the marketing offer portion 410 of the user interface screen400, the integrated user interface 60 provides the response for moreinformation regarding the high-yield CD as interactive user responseinformation 94 to the rules engine 20. The rules information 70 in therules engine 20 may route the request through the application integrator30 for additional information on the high-yield CD by routing therequest to the real time alerts and offers sub-application 252. If,however, the customer prefers to follow up on the offer rather thanaccept the offer during the transaction, the customer may request afollow-up return call. As a result, the rules engine 20 using theapplication integrator 30, in response to receiving a request for acall-back, as shown in the offers portion 510 of the updated userinterface screen 500, may send a referral request to the lead/prospectmanagement and referrals sub-application 238.

Although previously described as integrated in the example discussedwith respect to FIG. 6, according to one embodiment, the universalknowledge base application 338 may be updated when a particular user hashad success in teller referrals. In response to receiving the referral,the lead/prospect management and referrals sub-application 238, incooperation with the branch/employee performance metrics sub-application306, may recognize that the teller is a leading teller referral providerin the region and prompt the universal knowledge base sub-application338. Accordingly, the universal knowledge base sub-application 338through the application integrator 30 and via the rules engine 20 mayprompt the user asking for his techniques and ideas for teller referralsto be incorporated into the quick tips portion 504 of the updated userinterface screen 500 to enable other tellers to learn from hisexperience. Upon entry of the information requested, the integrated userinterface 60 may send the quick tips information as interactive userresponse information 94 to the universal knowledge base sub-application338 via the application integrator 30.

According to one embodiment, applications and sub-applications, such asthe applications and sub-applications described in FIG. 2 may beclassified as either (a) main applications and sub-applications and (b)supporting applications and sub-applications. Main applications andsub-applications are considered primary, or necessary to carry out atransaction specified by the transaction type information 100. Examplesof main applications and sub-applications include the customerrelationship management application 216, the sales and maintenanceapplication 234, the financial/internal branch transaction application268, and portions of the branch administration application 300 such asthe branch security sub-application 302, the sales incentive trackingsub-application 304, the physical branch layout/ergonomicssub-application 308, the form/supply management sub-application 310 thescheduling and staffing models sub-application 314 and thegoals/objectives aligned with incentives sub-application 316. Supportingapplications and sub-applications are considered secondary or notnecessary to carry out the transaction specified by the transaction typeinformation 100 but are used by the rules engine 20 to enhance theexperience and value of the transaction from the client and/or user'sperspective. Examples of supporting applications and sub-applicationsinclude the knowledge management application 326, the trainingapplication 340, the fraud prevention application 210 and portions ofthe branch administration application 300 such as the branch/employeeperformance matrix sub-application 306 and the performance managementsub-application 312.

Hence, rule information 70 within the rules engine 20 causes theapplication integrator 30 to communicate with the supportingapplications and in response, the supporting applications can call andcommunicate with other supporting applications or main applications andsupporting applications. Similarly, main applications and supportingapplications can call and communicate with other supporting applicationsor main applications. The output for all applications deemed to berelevant, whether main or supporting will be integrated together anddisplayed at the same time and at one level at the integrated userinterface 60. According to one example, the rules engine 20 calls a mainapplication and the main application automatically calls a supportingapplication.

According to one specific embodiment, a branch user desktop interfaceprovides access to nine-key branch applications with capabilities andassociated subcapabilities, through an interaction-driven integrateduser interface. The apparatus and method may support numerousoperations, for example, training, teller and platform capabilitiescombined with insight-driven marketing (“IDM”). For example,insight-driven marketing based applications may use information, such asa customer profile or a business transaction, to provide transactionspecific and customer specific marketing offers to the customer in orderto stimulate the sale of other banking products and services. Accordingto yet another advantage, all relevant information provided by thevarious applications is provided in a single level interface to the userso that the user need not navigate through different window levels (if aWindows based operating system is used). Accordingly, the apparatus andmethod integrates multiple applications to provide the user with asingle portal front end. According to one embodiment, the apparatusintegrates both off-the-shelf applications and custom applications inorder to fill an end user's need for access to various capabilities suchas training, marketing and sales, administration and transactioncapabilities.

It is understood that the rules engine 20 may cause the applicationintegrator 30 to call any other suitable combination of applications andsub-applications, whether they are main or supporting in addition to theembodiments previously described. For example, in response to receivingtransaction type information 96, the rules engine 20 may cause theapplication integrator 30 to call and communicate with both a mainapplication or sub-application and a supporting application orsub-application. Both the main application or sub-application and thesupporting application or sub-application may communicate with theapplication integrator 30 to display information provided by the mainapplication or sub-application and the supporting application orsub-application in an integrated single level user interface. Inresponse to interactive user response information 94, for example, therules engine 20 may cause the application integrator 30 to communicatewith another main application or sub-application or another supportingapplication or sub-application. As such, the rules engine 20 may causethe application integrator 30 to call or communicate with any mainapplication or sub-application or supporting application orsub-application in response to interactive user response information 94or communication from the main application or sub-application orsupporting application or sub-application.

Similarly, main applications and sub-applications can call andcommunicate with other supporting applications and sub-applications ormain applications and sub-applications. The output for all applicationsand sub-applications deemed to be relevant, whether main or supportingwill be integrated together and displayed at the same time and at onelevel at the integrated user interface 60. According to one example, therules engine 20 causes the application integrator 30 to call a mainapplication or sub-application and the main application andsub-application automatically calls a supporting application andsub-application.

An example of rule information 70 may be as shown below:

Rule_(A) Information:

Transaction Type=Bond Redemption

Main Application=Service request application 294

Supporting Application=Integrated FAQ sub-application 334

If the Integrated FAQ is selected “When do I report interest”, thenrequest additional supporting application=Just in time training.

It is understood that the implementation of other variations andmodifications of the present invention and its various aspects will beapparent to those of ordinary skill in the art and that the invention isnot limited by the specific embodiments described herein. It istherefore contemplated to cover by the present invention any and allmodifications, variations, or equivalents that fall within the spiritand scope of the basic underlying principles disclosed and claimedherein.

1. A method for providing information to enhance at least one of: asales, a service and an administrative transaction, the methodcomprising: receiving end user identification information; receivingclient identification information; receiving transaction typeinformation; communicating with a plurality of applications from a groupof applications, wherein the plurality of applications includes at leastone main application and at least one supporting application, inaccordance with rule information and based on at least two of thereceived: end user identification information, client identificationinformation and transaction type information; generating integratedoutput information from the plurality of applications to produce anintegrated user interface that includes output from the plurality ofapplications; receiving interactive user response information from theintegrated user interface; based on the interactive user responseinformation and the rule information, again determining which of atleast one additional supporting application of the group of applicationsto use in a next stage of the transaction; communicating with the atleast one additional supporting application; and updating the integratedoutput information for the integrated user interface to include outputfrom the at least one additional supporting application.
 2. The methodof claim 1, including: logging into the group of applications withoutuser intervention in accordance with the rule information and inresponse to a single user login and the received end user identificationinformation.
 3. The method of claim 1, including updating the integratedoutput information for an integrated single level user interface toinclude output from the at least one additional supporting application.4. The method of claim 1, including communicating with the at least onesupporting application in response to communicating with the at leastone main application.
 5. The method of claim 1, including communicatingbetween at least two supporting applications.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein the integrated output information includes at least one of:sales marketing offer information, service offer information,administrative information, transaction-dependent marketing offerinformation and customer-based marketing offer information.
 7. A methodfor providing information to enhance at least one of: a sales, a serviceand an administrative transaction, the method comprising: receiving enduser identification information; logging into a group of applicationswithout user intervention in accordance with rule information and inresponse to a single user login and the received end user identificationinformation; receiving client identification information; receivingtransaction type information; communicating with a plurality ofapplications from the group of applications, wherein the plurality ofapplications includes at least one main application and at least onesupporting application, in accordance with the rule information andbased on at least two of the received: end user identificationinformation, client identification information and transaction typeinformation; generating integrated output information on a single screenfrom the plurality of applications for an integrated user interface thatincludes output from the plurality of applications; receivinginteractive user response information from the integrated userinterface; based on the interactive user response information and therule information, again determining which of at least one additionalsupporting application of the group of applications to use in a nextstage of the transaction; communicating with the at least one additionalsupporting application; and updating the integrated output informationfor an integrated single level user interface to include output from theat least one additional supporting application.
 8. The method of claim7, including communicating with the at least one supporting applicationin response to communicating with the at least one main application. 9.The method of claim 7, including communicating between at least twosupporting applications.
 10. The method of claim 7, wherein theintegrated output information includes at least one of: sales marketingoffer information, service offer information, administrativeinformation, transaction-dependent marketing offer information andcustomer-based marketing offer information.
 11. A method for providingtraining information to enhance at least one of: a sales, a service andan administrative transaction, the method comprising: receiving end useridentification information; receiving client identification information;receiving transaction type information; communicating with at least onemain application including a training application, and at least onesupporting application, in accordance with rule information and based onat least two of the received: end user identification information,client identification information and transaction type information;generating integrated output training information from the at least oneapplication to produce an integrated user interface that includes outputfrom the at least one application; receiving interactive user responseinformation from the integrated user interface; based on the interactiveuser response information and the rule information, again determiningwhich of at least one additional supporting application of the group ofapplications to use in a next stage of the transaction; communicatingwith the at least one additional supporting application; and updatingthe integrated output training information for the integrated userinterface to include output from the at least one additional supportingapplication.
 12. The method of claim 11, including communicating with anintegrated FAQs application without user intervention in accordance withthe rule information and in response to a single user login and thereceived end user identification information.
 13. The method of claim12, including generating the integrated output information from theintegrated FAQs application to produce the integrated user interfacethat includes FAQs information from the integrated FAQs application. 14.The method of claim 13 including: receiving interactive user responseinformation corresponding to selected FAQs information in response tothe produced integrated user interface that includes the FAQsinformation; based on the selected FAQs information and the ruleinformation, communicating with a branch employee performance metricssupporting application; and updating the integrated output traininginformation with at least one of: suggested, additional and supplementaltraining information in response to communicating with the branchemployee performance metrics supporting application.
 15. The method ofclaim 13 including: receiving interactive user response informationcorresponding to selected FAQs information; based on the selected FAQsinformation and the rule information, communicating with at least oneof: a just-in-time training supporting application and a curriculumguide supporting application; and updating the integrated outputtraining information with smart training information in response tocommunicating with at least one of: the just-in-time training supportingapplication and the curriculum guide supporting application.
 16. Amethod for providing information to enhance a sales transaction, themethod comprising: receiving end user identification information;receiving client identification information; receiving transaction typeinformation; communicating with a main application including atransaction application and at least one supporting applicationincluding a transaction based marketing offer application, in accordancewith rule information and based on at least two of the received: enduser identification information, client identification information andtransaction type information; generating integrated output informationfrom at least the transaction application and the transaction basedmarketing offer application to produce an integrated user interface thatincludes a transaction based marketing offer; receiving interactive userresponse information including referral request information from theintegrated user interface in response to the produced integrated userinterface that includes the transaction based marketing offer; based onthe referral request information and the rule information, againdetermining which of at least one additional supporting application ofthe group of applications to use in a next stage of the transaction;communicating with the at least one additional supporting application;and updating the integrated output information for the integrated userinterface to include output from the at least one additional supportingapplication.
 17. The method of claim 16 including: based on the referralrequest information and the rule information, communicating with atleast the employee performance application; updating the integratedoutput information for the integrated user interface to include quicktips prompt information from the employee performance application; andreceiving interactive user response information including quick tipsresponse information from the integrated user interface in response toupdating the integrated output information to include the quick tipsprompt information.
 18. The method of claim 17 including: communicatingwith at least a universal knowledge base application in response toreceiving the quick tips response information.
 19. The method of claim16, wherein the integrated output information includes at least one of:sales marketing offer information, transaction-dependent marketing offerinformation and customer-based marketing offer information.
 20. Anapparatus to enhance at least one of: a sales, a service and anadministrative transaction, the apparatus comprising: an applicationintegrator to communicate with a group of applications; at least oneprocessor coupled to the application integrator; at least one memorydevice, coupled to the at least one processor, having stored thereonexecutable instructions that, when executed by the at least oneprocessor, cause the at least one processor to: receive end useridentification information; receive client identification information;receive transaction type information; communicate with a plurality ofapplications from the group of applications, wherein the plurality ofapplications includes at least one main application and at least onesupporting application, in accordance with rule information and based onat least two of the received: end user identification information,client identification information and transaction type information;generate integrated output information from the plurality ofapplications for an integrated user interface that includes output fromthe plurality of applications; receive interactive user responseinformation from the user interface; based on the interactive userresponse information and the rule information, again determine which ofat least one additional supporting application of the group ofapplications to use in a next stage of the transaction; communicate withthe at least one additional supporting application; and update theintegrated output information for the integrated user interface toinclude output from the at least one additional supporting application.21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the at least one processor logsinto the group of applications without user intervention in accordancewith the rule information, and in response to a single user login andthe received end user identification information.
 22. The apparatus ofclaim 20, wherein the at least one processor updates the integratedoutput information for an integrated single level user interface toinclude output from the at least one additional supporting application.23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the at least one processorcommunicates with the at least one supporting application in response tocommunicating with the at least one main application.
 24. The apparatusof claim 20, wherein at least two supporting applications communicatebetween each other.
 25. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein theintegrated output information includes at least one of: sales marketingoffer information, service offer information, administrativeinformation, transaction-dependent marketing offer information andcustomer-based marketing offer information.
 26. An apparatus to enhanceat least one of: a sales, a service and an administrative transaction,the apparatus comprising: an application integrator to communicate witha group of applications; at least one processor coupled to theapplication integrator; at least one memory device, coupled to the atleast one processor, having stored thereon executable instructions that,when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least oneprocessor to: receive end user identification information; log into thegroup of applications without user intervention in accordance with ruleinformation and in response to a single user login and the received enduser identification information; receive client identificationinformation; receive transaction type information; communicate with aplurality of applications from the group of applications, wherein theplurality of applications includes at least one main application and atleast one supporting application, in accordance with rule informationand based on at least two of the received: end user identificationinformation, client identification information and transaction typeinformation; generate integrated output information on a single screenfrom the plurality of applications for an integrated user interface thatincludes output from the plurality of applications; receive interactiveuser response information from the user interface; based on theinteractive user response information and the rule information, againdetermine which of at least one additional supporting application of thegroup of applications to use in a next stage of the transaction;communicate with the at least one additional supporting application; andupdate the integrated output information for an integrated single leveluser interface to include output from the at least one additionalsupporting application.
 27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein theintegrated output information includes at least one of: sales marketingoffer information, service offer information, administrativeinformation, transaction-dependent marketing offer information andcustomer-based marketing offer information.
 28. The apparatus of claim26, wherein, the at least one processor communicates with the at leastone supporting application in response to communicating with the atleast one main application.
 29. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein atleast two supporting applications communicate between each other.
 30. Anapparatus to enhance a sales transaction, the apparatus comprising: anapplication integrator to communicate with a group of applications; atleast one processor coupled to the application integrator; at least onememory device, coupled to the at least one processor, having storedthereon executable instructions that, when executed by the at least oneprocessor, cause the at least one processor to: receive end useridentification information; receive client identification information;receive transaction type information; communicate with a mainapplication from the group of applications including a transactionapplication and at least one supporting application from the group ofapplications including a transaction based marketing offer application,in accordance with rule information and based on at least two of thereceived: end user identification information, client identificationinformation and transaction type information; generate integrated outputinformation from at least the transaction application and thetransaction based marketing offer application to produce an integrateduser interface that includes a transaction based marketing offer;receive interactive user response information including referral requestinformation from the integrated user interface in response to theproduced integrated user interface that includes the transaction basedmarketing offer; based on the referral request information and the ruleinformation, again determine which of at least one additional supportingapplication of the group of applications to use in a next stage of thetransaction; communicate with the at least one additional supportingapplication; and update the integrated output information for theintegrated user interface to include output from the at least oneadditional supporting application.
 31. The apparatus of claim 30,wherein, the at least one processor: based on the referral requestinformation and the rule information, determines to use an employeeperformance application and in response, communicate with at least theemployee performance application; update the integrated outputinformation for the integrated user interface to include quick tipsprompt information from the employee performance application; andreceive interactive user response information including quick tipsresponse information from the integrated user interface in response toupdating the integrated output information to include the quick tipsprompt information.
 32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein, the at leastone processor communicates with at least a universal knowledge baseapplication in response to receiving the quick tips responseinformation.
 33. Memory containing instructions executable by one ormore processing devices that causes the one or more processing devicesto: receive end user identification information; receive clientidentification information; receive transaction type information;communicate with a plurality of applications from the group ofapplications, wherein the plurality of applications includes at leastone main application and at least one supporting application, inaccordance with rule information and based on at least two of thereceived: end user identification information, client identificationinformation and transaction type information; generate integrated outputinformation from the plurality of applications to produce an integrateduser interface that includes output from the plurality of applications;receive interactive user response information from the user interface;based on the interactive user response information and the ruleinformation, again determine which of at least one additional supportingapplication of the group of applications to use in a next stage of thetransaction; communicate with the at least one additional supportingapplication; and update the integrated output information for theintegrated user interface to include output from the at least oneadditional supporting application.
 34. The memory of claim 33, whereinthe integrated output information includes at least one of: salesmarketing offer information, service offer information, administrativeinformation, transaction-dependent marketing offer information andcustomer-based marketing offer information.